Family Portrait

Remus's first class of the day as a professor was Slytherin and Hufflepuff seventh years. When he saw his schedule, he was not shy to say he'd become a bit nervous. It was quite a way to begin teaching the school year. With seventh years, especially when some of them were to be Slytherins, he knew there would be no room for error. If he didn't earn their respect, if he didn't impress them, they would tell their younger housemates to disregard him.

Teaching would be a struggle all year in such a scenario. The last thing Remus wanted was it to come to fruition. Recovering from first impressions was a tricky business and, in some cases, opinions simply could not be changed.

So he stood at attention next to his desk as the teenagers filed into his classroom for their first lesson. Remus held his chin high and made sure his mouth was a firm, serious line while his eyes were friendly. He was pleased with the way some students smiled at him as they took their seats as others nodded and a few sighed.

Internally, he smirked. Everything was going according to his plan. He came off as welcoming to the students, but also as not a professor to cross. He wondered if Professor McGonagall would be proud of his level of command. Remus liked to think so.

After the students stopped filtering in, he looked at the little silver Muggle pocket watch his mother had given him shortly before she passed. She said it had been his grandfather's before him. Even during his hardest times over the last decade, he'd never sold it. It was too precious a gift for him to ever let it leave his oft-patched pockets.

Seeing it was time to begin, Remus put it safely away. With one flick of his wand, he shut the classroom door. With another, he raised a piece of chalk in preparation to write on the room's slate. Clearing his throat, he let his firm mouth pull into a small smile. "Good morning," he began. He started to write his name on the board with the chalk. "I am Remus—"

He was cut off by the classroom door swinging open with a clatter and a blonde teen hurrying in. Involuntarily, Remus stilled at the sight of her. He knew this girl. He'd seen her once before at her brother's side as a girl of eleven.

Darla Snape looked like her brother Severus Snape. Like him, she had a hooked nose that was too big for her face. Then there were her eyes. Remus did not let himself stare into them too long. He was quite afraid if he did those dark, black tunnels would take him somewhere he would never be able to escape.

At the same time, Darla Snape was different from her brother too. Her face was gentler somehow. He thought it was perhaps because she was missing her brother's chin. Hers was small and round and it made her appear less starved.

The teen had also manicured her brows into slight arches, making her eyes larger and herself more girlish. She wore her hair shorter now too. Instead of falling halfway to the small of her back, it bounced around her shoulders and her fringe framed her narrow countenance.

She mistook his stunned silence for annoyance and grimaced.

"Sorry," she said in a sulky tone as she folded herself behind a desk at the back of the room. "The Weasley twins put some kind of jinx on a corridor on the second floor. I had to help some firsties get out of it," she explained.

"Yeah right," scoffed one of Miss Snape's housemates. Remus looked at them. It was a bespectacled honey-blond girl. "You were probably shagging Bones in some closet," she jeered.

Remus was taken aback. The barb had knocked loose more of his memory of his last encounter he had with Darla Snape. She had talked about a Bones boy to Severus that day, hadn't she? Yes, she had. How had the Bones family come to let their nephew befriend this girl? Even if Severus was a reformed Death-Eater, he had still been a part of the cause that killed Edgar and Thalia. Shouldn't that have been enough to stamp out the ember of friendship between the two?

He was yanked out of his spiral when a couple of other Slytherins laughed at their housemate's remark. While across the room, the Hufflepuffs shifted unhappily in their seats and Miss Snape's face turned ugly. Remus watched in a panic as her eyes narrowed into a glare she had to have learned from her brother.

"Just because you're a slag doesn't mean everyone is Farley," the teenager hissed.

The other girl, Miss Farley, made a noise of affront. "Oh please!" she snapped. "Why–"

"Ladies!" broke in Remus, his wits about him once more. He could not let his first lesson fall to ruin because of a pair of bickering girls. Or his own despair at how easily some were willing to forget the crimes of others. Giving them both a hard look, he said, "I will not have students rowing pointlessly in my class."

Miss Farley turned a pout on him but otherwise settled down. As for Miss Snape, she continued to glare at the back of her housemate's head. He exhaled.

"Five points from Slytherin for your tardiness, Miss Snape," he declared. If Slytherins today were anything like they had been during his schooldays, they needed a firm hand. It would also set an example for the rest of the class what he would, and would not tolerate.

The girl's gaze shot up at his words. "Didn't you hear me say why I was late?" she demanded with a frown.

"I did," he said.

Her expression turned into one of incredulity, but it quickly changed to realization followed by contempt. "Oh I see," she said with an unkind smile. "It's too bad I'm not his family, huh?" Deliberately, she then turned her face away from him and focused her attention on the world outside the classroom's window.

What was that supposed to mean? Who was this other wizard she was referencing? Remus wracked his brain and came up with nothing. So, utterly bewildered, Remus found all he could say to Darla and the other students was, "We are wasting time." Returning his attention to the board, he told the class, "I am Remus Lupin and it is my pleasure to be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Please bring out your textbooks…"

The class hurried to comply. That is, all except for Darla. As he gave his day's lesson, the girl did not once turn her attention away from the window. When he dismissed them for the day, she was the first to rise and left without a backward glance at anyone.

It irked him, but mostly, he was still confused by her veiled insult from earlier. Who was she talking about? After seeing off the rest of the students with smiles and reminders to read their textbooks, he went and leaned back against his desk. There, he stared at the worn and scuffed toes of his boots in thought. Darla didn't know him. Well, not in a personal way. She probably knew him through Severus's stories and warnings—

She had to be talking about Sirius.

If it were James, she would have said Harry's family. Or perhaps Potter's. It was only Sirius she would speak of in such a vague way. Darla had probably been warned off from speaking too openly about Remsus's history with Sirius in front of other students. Perhaps at the behest of her brother. Though why Severus would ask that of her… He was likely warned by the headmaster to not create a scandal and instructed his sister (and possibly his daughters? They were so much younger…) to keep her newfound knowledge to herself.

Remus groaned and began to rub his temples to ward off the tension headache he felt coming on. He had probably never had a chance of creating a positive impression on Darla. Severus had already made sure she thought the worst of him before Remus even had a chance to say so much as "hello" to her. Letting his hand fall from his forehead, he turned his eyes toward the ceiling.

He hoped Severus hadn't spoken to his daughters about their history too. Though, if he had… Well, Remus wasn't afraid. He would prove to them he was nothing like the tales their father had told them about him.

And this was Darla's chapter! What did you think of the way Remus bungled things with her?

Thanks a million for reading guys!